“Most beautiful things do,” she said wistfully. “Hit me with it.”
Clearing my throat, I started recounting the tale, “Hero, priestess of Aphrodite—the goddess of love—and Leander, a young man, fell in love and had a secret relationship. They lived on opposite ends of the Hellespont Strait. Every night, he swam across it to be with her. And every night, Hero lit a torch in her tower to help guide him towards her.” I mapped the curve of Gabriela’s soft jaw with my pointer finger, tipping her head back so I could gaze into her blue eyes. “Their relationship bloomed during the warmer months, but when the weather got colder, they agreed to halt seeing each other until spring. But one winter night, Leander saw the torch lit in Hero’s tower again. Desperate to see his beloved, he tried swimming to her. Halfway through his journey, a gust of wind blew out her light…And Leander lost his way, drowning. Legend has it, when Hero saw Leander’s dead body in the water, she threw herself from her tower to be with him for all eternity.”
A gasp escaped Gabriela. “No.”
“I told you it was tragic.”
Her bottom lip stuck out almost sullenly. “That’s incredibly sad.”
I kissed her forehead, inhaling her vanilla and red roses scent. “Hero and Leander’s myth has been culturally referenced many times over the years.”
“I can see why,” Gabriela muttered. “It must be the forbidden love aspect.”
I toyed with the ends of her red hair. “Mhm.”
“What got you interested in Greek mythology in the first place?”
I glanced at the water before us, glistening like a dark bejeweled surface. “My older sister, Heidi, had a best friend named Donovan. He used to read a lot of classics and mythology. When I turned ten, Don gifted me a comprehensive book on Greek mythology for my birthday. I must have read that book from front to back at least twenty times. Along with my dad, Don was one of the male figures in my life that I always looked up to.”
Gabriela smiled. “How sweet.”
“After my dad died, Donovan sort of stepped up,” I said, “He’d come to all my football games and take me out to pizza parlours afterwards the same way my dad did. He’d watch action movies with me every week, without once seeming bothered to be spending time with his best friend’s kid brother.”
“I’m glad you had someone like that in your life.” Gabriela squeezed my hand. “Donovan sounds like a great person.”
“He is.” Donovan was one of the most honourable men I’d had the privilege of knowing. Which was why him leaving the city years ago was such a harsh pill to swallow. He was no longer part of our lives, but he’d left his mark on me and Heidi, and it was something I’d always be grateful for. “Do you ever feel like you were born missing something because you were meant tofind it later in life? I feel like I never had a brother because I was meant to have Donovan as mine.”
The same way I felt like I was missing Gabriela my whole life without even realizing it…and here she was, in the flesh, the living personification of all my desires and dreams.
Gabriela’s face softened. “Yes. That’s how I feel about Anna and Layla. Though I’m an only child, I never felt like I didn’t have siblings because I had them since childhood. They’re my found family. We may not share a drop of blood, but they’re my sisters in every way that matters. I’m lucky to have them.”
“They’re lucky to have you too.” I glided my fingers through her hair and she shivered when my knuckles grazed her back. Feeling bold, I added, “And so am I.”
The particles of the air hovering between us charged with an electrifying energy. Gabriela appeared angelic under the glow of the stars, and her eyes gleamed characteristically with desperate need. My expression no doubt mirrored hers.
I was about to lean over and fuse her mouth with mine, but she broke the heady eye contact and glanced down at our joined hands instead, biting her lip.
Dejectedness swirled in the pit of my stomach.
Did Gabriela not feel this deep connection pulsating whenever we were in the same vicinity?
There were times when I thought Gabriela wanted more with me but was holding herself back, hiding behind the guise of being friends. If I weren’t so perceptive where she was concerned, making it my goddamn mission to study her, I may have missed the signs.
But they were there.
I didn’t know what was holding her back, but I intended to find out soon.
Instead of vocalizing those thoughts, I dug into the wicker basket for the gifts I bought her.
A football jersey, a novel, and a rose-petaled resin bookmark.
“Here.” I plucked them out and placed them into her lap. “For you.”
Surprised, Gabriela let go of my hand to unravel the jersey and traced the number nine with her fingers. “You got me your jersey.”
“I said I would, Gabby.” I’d never break a promise to her.
“Oh, and a book.” She flipped it around to face the front, her eyes flaring in recognition. It was one of her favourite stories—the same one with the vampire lord and his mortal bride that inspired tonight’s date. She thumbed through the pages, gasping. “Hunter, you annotated this?”
